Wire coiling arrangement

ABSTRACT

A wire coiling arrangement includes a rotatable wire coiling mandrel (34) which incorporates a wire receiving slot (33) which extends axially rearwardly from a forward end of the mandrel and which has a slot mouth or entrance (40) facing towards the front end of the mandrel. A coil ejection arrangement (43-46) is arranged for movement along the mandrel (34), between a withdrawn wire coiling position and a forwardly located coil ejection position, such as to push a coil wound on the mandrel axially therefrom. The coil ejection arrangement also carries wire guides (42) which in one setting position of the ejection arragement form a continuation of the slot mouth (40) which widens outwardly from the forward end of the mandrel.

The present invention relates to a wire coiling arrangement intendedpreferably for use in a wrapping wire removing arrangement and being ofthe kind which includes a rotatable wire coiling mandrel incorporating awire receiving slot which extends at least substantially axiallyrearwards from a forward end of the mandrel and which has a mouth partor entrance which faces towards the forward end of the mandrel, andfurther includes a coil ejection arrangement which can be moved relativeto the mandrel between a withdrawn, wire coiling position and aforwardly located coil ejection position, for pushing a coil of wirewound on the mandrel axially therefrom.

One object of the present invention is to provide a novel wire coilingarrangement of this kind which is of simplified construction and whichis a structural improvement on known wire coiling arrangements.

To this end it is proposed in accordance with the invention that thecoil ejecting arrangement is movable along the mandrel and, tofacilitate introduction of a wire into the wire receiving slot, that theejection arrangement carries a wire guide device which in one positionalsetting of the coil ejection arrangement forms a widened continuation ofthe mouth part of the slot in a direction away from the forward end ofthe mandrel. Because the mandrel can be made immovable in the directionof its longitudinal axis, this arrangement is extremely reliable inoperation and simple in construction.

Further characteristic features of the invention and advantages affordedthereby will be apparent from the depending claims and from thefollowing description of the invention, which is made with reference toan exemplifying embodiment of the invention relating to the removal ofmetallic wrapping wires from bales of paper pulp while the bales rest ona conveyor path, and also with reference to accompanying drawings, inwhich

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a plant for removing wrapping wiresfrom bales while the bales rest on a conveyor path,

FIG. 2 is a view of the plant shown in FIG. 1, from above;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a wrapping wire removal arrangement usedin the plant illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and incorporating a wirecoiling arrangement according to the invention;

FIGS. 4-6 are views from above of a wire coiling arrangement similar tothat illustrated in FIG. 3, showing the arrangement located in a wirereceiving position, a wire coiling position and a coil ejecting positionrespectively; and

FIG. 7 is an end view of the coiling mandrel seen from the front.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the reference numeral identifies a first roller path 1which carries a bale 2 of paper pulp, around which there is wrapped twopairs of mutually parallel steel wires 3, the wires 3 of one pairextending at right angles to the wires 3 of the other pair. The bale 2is placed on the first roller path 1 in position A, as shown with thebale drawn in full lines in the Figure, and in position B, as shown withthe bale drawn in chain lines, this latter bale partially overlappingthe bale shown in full lines. The arrangement also includes a turntable4, on which a bale 2 is placed in position C, and a second roller path5, which carries a bale 2 placed in position D, in accordance with thefull line figure which shows the bale 2, and in position E, inaccordance with the figure drawn in chain lines, this latter figurepartially overlapping the figure drawn in full lines.

The roller paths 1, 5 are illustrated schematically in the drawings andcomprise mutually parallel, driven rollers, the upper surfaces of whichrollers lie in one and the same plane and the common transport directionof which is arrowed in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The turntable 4 isalso illustrated schematically in the drawings and comprises an upperpart which is rotatable about a vertical axis and which is provided withdriving roller means, not shown in the drawings, by means of which thebale 2 can be moved in two mutually perpendicular directions. The bale 2is driven in one of said directions when moved from the first rollerpath 1 to the turntable 4, and in the other of said directions whenmoved from the turntable 4 to the second roller path 5. In between thesemovements the turntable 4 has been rotated through 90°, so that thesteel wires 3, which in positions A and B are located in thetransporting direction of the roller path 1, are now orientated inpositions D and E so as to be at right angles to the transportingdirection of the roller path 5.

Beneath the first roller path 1 there is arranged a first wire removalarrangement which incorporates a wire clipping device 6, (shown in FIG.3), which can be moved vertically upwards in between two mutuallyadjacent rollers of the first roller path 1. When the bale 2 is locatedin the position A, the forwardly lying wrapping wire 3, which extends atright angles to the transporting direction, is located immediately abovethis wire removing arrangement. The forward wrapping wire 3 is severedby bringing the wire clipping device 6 into contact with the undersurface of the bale 2. When the bale 2 is located in position B, itsrearwardly lying wrapping wire 3 is located above the wire clippingdevice 6 and is severed in a similar manner. The wrapping wires 3 aremoved, with the aid of an electromagnet (10, in FIG. 3), down from theunder side of the bale 2 and into a wire winding arrangement (FIGS.3-6).

A further wire clipping device 7, also illustrated symbolically in FIGS.1 and 2 and corresponding with the aforedescribed wire clipping device,is arranged beneath the second roller path 5 and is active between tworollers of the second roller path 5, for removal of the remainingwrapping wires 3 of the bale 2 in positions D and E, in a manner similarto removal of the wire in the positions A and B.

The positions of the wires at locations A and B on the first roller path1 and the wire positions at locations D and E on the second roller path5 are determined with the aid of wire sensors 8, 9, which are located ateach of said wire clipping devices 6, 7. When the bale 2 moves alongrespective roller paths 1, 5 and the forwardly located wrapping wire 3,as seen in the direction of transportation, is detected by the wiresensor 8, 9, the drive to the roller path 1, 5 is disengaged, wherewiththe forward wire 3 is located above a respective wire clipping device 6,7. When the bale 2 is again set in motion, the drive is disengaged whenthe rearwardly lying wire is detected by the wire sensor 8, 9, whereuponthe rear wire is located above a respective wire clipping device 6, 7.

The wrapping wire removing arrangement will now be described withreference to FIG. 3. The reference numeral 20 identifies a horizontallower part of a magnetic metal wire which is shown in broken lines andwhich is wound in an endless loop around a bale (not shown) resting on ahorizontal roller path or some other form of conveyor (also not shown)which enables the part 20 to be reached from beneath. The referencenumeral 6 identifies conventional shears driven by a pneumaticpiston-cylinder device 21. The shears 6 and the piston-cylinder device21 are securely mounted on a slide 22, which can be displaced axiallyalong vertical guides 23 by means of a further pneumatic piston-cylinderdevice 24. The piston-cylinder device 24 and the guides 23 are carriedby a machine frame structure 25, and the piston-cylinder device 24 isoperative in moving the shears 6 between (a) an upper position, in whicheach of the shear blades is located on a respective side of the wirepart 20, so as to sever said wire part upon activation of thepiston-cylinder device 21, and (b) a lower position in which the shearsare located out of the path of the bales located on the conveyor.

Also incorporated in the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 3 is a sensor8, which for the sake of simplicity is here considered to be locatedbeneath the conveyor path and which is mounted on an arm which extendsin the transporting direction of the conveyor and which is hinged at oneend to the frame structure 25, by means of a hinge 26. A thrust spring27 acting between the frame structure and the arm urges the arm intocontact with the under surface of the bales advanced on the conveyor.The sensor is adapted to detect the presence of the magnetic metal wiresand upon detecting such a wire is operative in initiating a sequence ofoperations in which the conveyor is stopped, the shears 6 are movedupwardly to their raised position by means of the piston-cylinder device24, the piston-cylinder device 21 is activated to effect severing of thewire loop, and the shears 6 are again lowered to their lower position.

The electromagnet 10 of the illustrated embodiment is carried on theouter end of the piston rod of a pneumatic piston-cylinder device 28,which in turn is carried by the frame structure 25. The magnet 10 isarranged for movement between an upper position, shown in broken lines,in which it is located in the close proximity of or in physical contactwith the wire part 20, and a lower position, shown in full lines, inwhich it is moved out of the path of the bales located on the conveyor.As the magnet 10 moves from its upper to its lower position, itentrains, or pulls, the left-hand part of the wire part 20 (as seen inFIG. 3) severed at 29, such as to bring this severed wire part intoabutment with a support 30 carried by the frame structure 25. Thesupport 30 has journalled thereon two wire-capturing arms 31, each ofwhich is arranged for rotational movement between the open positionshown in full lines, in which the wire end can pass freely in betweenthe arms, and the holding-down position shown in broken lines, in whichthe captured part of said wire end is bent down in such a manner thatthe extremity of said captured wire-end is located in the slot 33 of acoiling mandrel 34 forming part of a wire coiling arrangement, thefunction and construction of which will best be seen from FIGS. 4-7. Thecoils of wire 35 wound by the wire coiling arrangement are collected ina container 36. The mandrel 34 is driven by an electric motor 37, via aV-belt transmission 38. The reference 39 identifies a bearing which iscarried by the frame structure 25 and in which the mandrel 34 isjournalled for rotation but prevented from moving axially. The wirereceiving slot which extends rearwardly from the forward end of themandrel 34 has a mouth part 40, or entrance, which widens towards saidend. The motor 37 is arranged, in a known manner, to stop in apre-determined position when the motor is switched off, so that the slot33 will be oriented essentially in a vertical pane, as seen in FIGS.3-7.

The wound coils of wire 35 are ejected or pushed from the mandrel 34 bymeans of a coil ejecting device which can be moved along the mandrel 34by pneumatic piston-cylinder devices 41 between a retracted, wirecoiling position, shown in FIG. 5, and a forwardly located, coilejecting position, shown in FIG. 6. The coil ejecting device carrieswire guides 42 which, when the coil ejecting device is set in theposition illustrated in FIG. 4, form a widened or flared extension ofthe mouth 40 of the aforesaid slot 33, in a direction away from theforward end of the mandrel. These guides ensure that the wire part 20 isguided positively into the slot 33, when the wire capturing arms 31 areswung from the position shown in full lines in FIG. 3 to the positionshown in chain lines, as also seen from FIG. 4.

The illustrated coil ejecting device includes two substantially U-shapedelements which are located on respective sides of the mandrel 34 andeach of which comprises a web 43 and rear and front limbs 44 and 45respectively. Each of the elements 43-45 is supported at one end by arespective arm 46. Each arm 46 is journalled at a location midwaybetween its ends for pivotal movement about a pivot pin 47 located in anarm 48 which is carried, in turn, by the frame 25. The pivot pins 47 aremutually parallel and are located equidistant from the mandrel 34 in aplane extending transversely to the mandrel. Each of the ends of thearms 46 remote from the elements 43-45 is pivotally journalled on oneend of a respective piston-cylinder device 41, the opposite ends ofwhich are pivotally journalled to the frame structure 25 at 49.

The elements 43-45 with associated wire guides 42 can thus be moved in acircular arcuate path around the pivot pins 47 by the piston-cylinderdevices 41, between the wire coiling position shown in FIG. 5 and thecoil ejecting position shown in FIG. 6, via the intermediate positionshown in FIG. 4. The web 43 extends substantially parallel with themandrel 34 in said wire coiling position, at a distance from the mandrelaxis corresponding to the largest desired radius of the wire coil 35wound on the mandrel. The free inner ends of the limbs 44, 45 extendinginwardly towards the mandrel 34 substantially at right angles to theopposing ends of the web 44 are suitably provided with recesses soconfigured as to conform to the outer surface of the mandrel, whileleaving a small space between said limbs and said outer surface. In thewire coiling position of the arrangement, the forwardly located limbs45, or at least the free ends thereof, are located essentially in aplane which extends transversely to the mandrel 34 and which is locatedclosely adjacent to or slightly behind the forward end of the mandrel.An advantage is afforded when the lengths of respective limbs 44, 45 issuch that the free ends of said limbs meet on both sides of the mandrel34 in the wire coiling position of the arrangement, as illustrated forthe limbs 45 in FIG. 5. The wire guides 42 consist of parts which extendobliquely outwardly and rearwardly in relation to the forwardly locatedlimbs 45, preferably such as to subtend between said parts, in the wirereceiving position according to FIG. 4, an angle of 60°-100°.

The free ends of the rearwardly located limbs 44 are preferably locatedin or adjacent to the plane containing the pivot pins 47, so that theelements 43-45 and their respective parts will not approach the axis ofthe mandrel to any great extent during movement of said elements andsaid parts from the wire coiling position to the coil ejection position.

In the intermediate position or wire receiving position illustrated inFIG. 4, the free ends of the forwardly located limbs 45 areadvantageously located in a plane which extends perpendicularly to themandrel axis and which contains the forwardly located end of themandrel, this plane being spaced from the mandrel axis through adistance corresponding to half the width of the slot mouth 44, saidcontinuations being spaced widely apart.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the mandrel 34, showing that thediametrical slot 33 widens towards the periphery of the mandrel.Consequently, the position of the slot 33 in relation to the verticalplane in the wire receiving position of the arrangement illustrated inFIG. 4 is less critical.

When using the wire coiling arrangement, the elements 43-45 are firstset to the wire insertion position illustrated in FIG. 4. Subsequent tothe insertion of the wire 20 into the slot 33, the elements 43-45 arewithdrawn to the wire coiling position shown in FIG. 5, whereupon themandrel 34 is rotated so as to wind the wire 20 thereon, therewithforming a coil 35. Subsequent to forming the coil 35, the elements 43-45are moved to the coil ejection position shown in FIG. 6, while pushingthe coil 35 axially from the mandrel 34 with the aid of the rearwardlylocated limbs 44, which act on the rear surface of the coil 35.

The invention is not restricted to the aforedescribed and illustratedembodiment, but can be achieved in any suitable manner within the scopeof the invention defined in the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A wire coiling arrangement comprising a rotatable wirecoiling mandrel (34) which incorporates a wire receiving slot (33) whichextends at least substantially axially rearwards from a forward end ofthe mandrel and which has a slot mouth (40) which faces said forward endof the mandrel, and further comprising an ejection arrangement (43-46)which can be moved between a withdrawn wire coiling position (FIG. 5)and a forwardly located coil ejection position (FIG. 6), such as to pusha wire coil (35) coiled on the mandrel axially therefrom, characterizedin that the coil ejection arrangement (43-46) is arranged for axialmovement along the mandrel (34) and, for the purpose of facilitatinginsertion of a wire (20) into the wire receiving slot (33), carries wireguides (42) which in one setting (FIG. 4) of the ejection arrangementform a continuation of the slot mouth (40) which widens in a directionaway from the forwardly located end of the mandrel.
 2. An arrangementaccording to claim 1, characterized in that the slot mouth (40) is alsowidened in a direction towards the forward end of the mandrel.
 3. Anarrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the coilejection arrangement (43-46) includes two substantially U-shapedelements which are located on respective sides of the mandrel and eachof which has a web (43) which, in said wire coiling position, extends insubstantially parallel spaced relationship with the mandrel (34), and aforward and a rearward limb (45, 44) whose free ends distal from the webare located adjacent the outer surface of the mandrel in the wirecoiling position of the arrangement; in that in the wire coilingposition of the arrangement the free ends of the forwardly located limbs(45) of respective U-shaped elements are located in the proximity of theforward end of the mandrel, and in that each wire guide (42) consists ofa guide part which extends obliquely outwards and rearwards from thefree end of the forwardly located limb (45).
 4. An arrangement accordingto claim 3, characterized in that the elements (43-45) are movablebetween the wire coiling position and the coil ejection position incircular arcuate paths about a respective one of two mutually parallelpivot pins (47) which extend equidistant from mutually opposite sides ofthe mandrel (34) in a plane extending perpendicularly to said mandrel.5. An arrangement according to claim 4, characterized in that in thewire coiling position of the arrangement the free ends of the rearwardlylocated limbs (44) are located in or adjacent said plane.
 6. Anarrangement according to claim 5, characterized in that in the wirecoiling position of the arrangement the free ends of the forwardlylocated limbs (45) meet behind the slot mouth (40) on both sides of themandrel (34).
 7. An arrangement according to claim 6, characterized inthat the U-shaped elements (43-45) can be set to an intermediateposition (FIG. 4) in which the free ends of the forwardly located limbs(45) are located in a plane which extends substantially at right anglesto the axis of the mandrel and which contains the forward end of saidmandrel, at a distance from said axis corresponding to half the width ofthe slot mouth (40).